Skids on the Spins
by Luce Red
Summary: Crossover with Initial D. Hikaru and his ramen cravings land them in the strangest places.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Skids on the Spins  
Author: Luce Red  
Series: Crossover of Hikaru no Go and Initial D  
Disclaimer: Hikaru no Go is the work of Hotta and Obata; Initial D, Shigeno Shuichi. Characters belong to their creators and appear here for non-profit entertainment only  
Type/Notes: General fic. Inspired by ramblecorner, who talked about Hikago and brought up Initial D for no reason.  
Summary: Hikaru and his ramen cravings land them in the strangest places (yes, it's the same summary as Tricks and Traps)

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"Oh man, Kuwabara is going kill us for making him wait!" Shindou said, loud enough that a few people on the street looked up.

"If you hadn't insisted on eating an extra bowl of ramen, we wouldn't have missed the train," Touya said.

It had been his idea to visit Niwayama Ichiro, a retired Go pro who used to be his father's senior. The old man--nearly in his seventies now--lived in a small town at the foot of Mt. Akina. Shindou called it the boondocks, but he insisted on accompanying Touya anyway.

When Kuwabara Honinbou heard about their plans to be in Gunma Prefecture, he had invited them to visit him there, where he was staying for the summer break. The Honinbou title-holder was extraordinarily crabby, but he had taken a liking to Shindou that was expressed in challenges to games and invitations to his grandchildren's place. They were expected in about three hours.

Touya had predicted long ago that Shindou's devotion to ramen was going to get him in trouble. He just didn't expect that he'd be implicated as well. The next train would come in the evening, and by then it would be too late.

"Who would have thought the train would leave exactly on time? I mean, this is..." Shindou waved a hand at the forest in the distance, and the general lack of sky-scrappers. "The middle of nowhere!"

Touya repressed the urge to strangle Shindou, and settled for the being the problem-solving partner. This way, he got to be right. "Let's just see if we can find another way there."

"Another way?" Shindou asked. He eyed the gas station across the street, which was filled with cars. "Maybe if I could rent a car and drive..."

"No!" Touya shouted. Shindou had passed his driving test two weeks ago, and as far as Touya was concerned he had passed it by hypnotising the examiner with recitals of Go kifu, because Shindou was a menace on anything more complicated than a unicycle.

Shindou looked hurt. A corner of his lower lip stuck out.

"I mean, you don't know the roads here," Touya said, trying to be diplomatic. Shindou was the only person of his acquaintance over the age of five who could still pout convincingly. "I think they are mostly mountain roads. You aren't used to them, Shindou."

"I guess so," Shindou said. "What then? Buses?"

Touya shook his head. "Remember, we checked before? There aren't any direct buses." He thought about it, studying the cars at the gas station. "We could get a taxi..."

Shindou shuddered. "Can you imagine the fare we'll rack up? And I don't think a taxi driver would want to drive us that far."

"True."

"Maybe we could go over there," Shindou nodded at the gas station, "and ask. Maybe they'll know of another way to get to Kuwabara's place."

---

The owner of the gas station had to cling to the counter because he was laughing so hard. "You want to hire a car to go where? In three hours? Are you nuts?" he asked.

Shindou frowned.

"I'll take them," another voice said.

Touya looked into the face of a young man their age, wearing a faded T-shirt and jeans, and the most placid expression he had ever seen.

The owner looked flabbergasted. "Takumi, are you sure? It's not a short journey."

'Takumi' nodded. "It won't take a while," he said. "I need to go there anyway." He turned to Touya and Shindou. "If you pay for the gas, I'll drive the two of you." His voice was soft.

Shindou looked from him to the owner. "You can get us there within three hours?" he asked. The train ran on a direct route, but the roads meandered around the mountainous region, and a journey by car normally took much longer.

'Takumi' nodded. "Yes," he said without elaboration. "I drive fast," he offered after a second.

Touya studied their driver-to-be warily. 'Takumi''s eyes seem to be slightly unfocused, as though he was contemplating something in the distance.

"All right," the owner allowed, apparently deciding not to argue. He nodded at Touya and Shindou. "It's all right," he said to them. "You can trust Takumi. Right?" he said. "Takumi?" he said more loudly when there was no answer.

'Takumi' gave a soft nod slowly. "Yes. You'll get there before dark," he said.

Shindou grinned. "That exactly what we want," he assured 'Takumi'.

Touya had a bad feeling.

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	2. Chapter 2

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Their driver's name, as it turned out, _was _Takumi. Fujiwara Takumi. Touya had never been glad for Shindou's direct, and occasionally tactless manner before, but at least this time it proved effective in extracting information from a youth who seemed unusually taciturn.

"Can you wait a second?" Shindou asked. "I want to get some snacks," he nodded at the convenience store located at the gas station.

Fujiwara seemed to process this for a full second, before he nodded. "I need to fill the tank, anyway," he said.

"I'll come with you," Touya decided, if only to stop Shindou from carting away half the store with him.

Shindou blinked, but slowed down to wait for him.

In the store area, Touya took the opportunity to whisper to Shindou. "Are you sure we can trust what the owner said?"

"Huh?" Shindou asked intelligently, his attention on the rows of instant ramen before him. "I think he's all right," he said. "Hey, I've never seen this flavour of ramen before!"

"Shindou!"

"I admit, the fact that he looks half-asleep isn't encouraging," Shindou said, beginning to fill his basket with ramen, "but the owner thinks he's okay. You can trust old geezers like him, you know--you play with enough of them."

Touya was about to retort that it was precisely because he had played with numerous _geezers_, as Shindou said, that he was wary, but he had other concerns at the moment. "Shindou, you do not need a carton of ramen!"

"But they're all flavours I've never eaten before!" Shindou protested, trying to hide his shopping basket from Touya. "Barbequed squid, preserved oysters, and look! Grilled crab from Hokkaido! I've only _read _about this."

It was disturbing to realize Shindou read up about ramen, Touya decided, and instant ramen at that. "Shindou!" he said, before he prepared his argument against processed foods.

Shindou finally agreed to buy only half a dozen cups, in addition to cans of beverages.

They stood waiting at the exit of the convenience store, looking for their driver. "He was using the owner's phone when I was paying up. Something about checking out a route," Shindou said. "Hey, did I get that black sesame chicken flavour?" he asked out loud, and immediately held up his shopping bag to try and rummage through it.

Unfortunately, he only succeeded in slugging a just-emerging customer with his bag of ramen.

"Hey, watch it!" the man shouted, giving them a dirty look. He looked about twenty-five, and his expression was jeering.

"Sorry!" Shindou sang, and when the man walked past them, he made a face at his back. "What a jerk," he muttered, before subsiding to make sure that his ramen were all there, undamaged, and relaxed. "Hey, that's our driver!" he said, catching sight of a standing figure at the side. "Fujiwara-san!"

His shout made their driver look up from where he was standing by the gas pumps, contemplating empty air. "Shindou-san," he said as they approached.

"Sorry for the delay. Can we go now?" Shindou asked.

"Yeah," Fujiwara said. "My car's over there," he turned, and came to a stop, nearly crashing into the man standing there.

"Fujiwara? It's you?"

"He knows the jerk?" Shindou whispered to Touya. "I'm starting to be un-confident."

"Excuse me," Fujiwara said, stepping past, pretending that he didn't know the other man.

"Don't you walk away from me, Fujiwara!" The man growled, his face growing red.

"I'm relieved," Shindou said. "Let's go, Touya," he said.

Touya followed after him and Fujiwara, conscious of the man glaring at them. "He's following us," he said to Shindou.

"I know," Shindou said. "Weirdo. Let's ignore him."

"Fujiwara, you can't ignore me! I have a score to settle with you!" the man continued to shout, until he reached the parking spot just outside the gas station, nearly walking into a stunned Shindou and Touya, and he abruptly fell silent.

For they now saw the car.

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	3. Chapter 3

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To be sure, Touya knew little about cars--unlike Shindou, he was not interested in learning to drive--but he had the feeling that the car before them was unusual. Compared to the rounded, softened lines of the cars that he often saw in Tokyo, it looked shockingly old. He frowned.

"This is a delivery car!" Shindou exclaimed, pointing. Sure enough, the words "Fujiwara Tofu Shop" were stenciled clearly on the side.

Touya kicked him in the ankle before he could say something shockingly rude, but as he started to administer a chiding, something else happened.

The stranger who had followed them took one look at Fujiwara's car, and began laughing. "You call _this_ a car? A Toyota Eight-Six?" He slapped his thigh, his guffaws growing louder and louder while Fujiwara ignored him as he went about stowing their overnight bags in the back.

"It's a delivery car, Touya," Shindou grumbled to Touya, his voice softer now.

Touya stared at him. "And that bothers you?" he asked.

Before Shindou could answer, the stranger began jeering again. "That's the car you're driving these days, Fujiwara? Are you sure it even passed inspection?"

Fujiwara acted as though he hadn't heard him. "Shindou-san, Touya-san," he said. "We should be going now."

"All right," Touya answered, and ushered a suddenly reluctant Shindou into the backseat, before getting in as well. "What's the matter with you?" he asked when they were seated.

Shindou leant towards Touya. "Touya, did I ever tell you the time Kawai-san and I took a ride on this guy's delivery van, on Innoshima?" he whispered.

"Yes."

"And did I tell you that Shuhei-san drove like a maniac?" Shindou said. He shook his head without waiting for Touya's reply. "We're done for. I shouldn't have trusted that geezer at the gas station. Delivery guys are crazy." He looked mournfully at his bag of purchases. "I'm going to die without eating the wasabi-flavoured roast chicken ramen."

Privately, Touya thought that eating the instant ramen in Shindou's bag was worse than death. At that moment, Fujiwara slid into the driver's seat. Without preamble, he began moving out of the parking space and into the main road, his movement quick and smooth.

Shindou stiffened, and placed a hand on the door handle, clutching it tightly.

Touya curled his fingers over Shindou's free hand--the one resting over the bag of ramen--in reassurance. "Relax," he said. "I'm sure Fujiwara is a good driver."

"But..." Shindou looked as though he was bracing himself.

After a few seconds along the mostly empty road, Touya allowed himself to relax. Though the car looked old, it ran smoothly and seemed to be reliable enough, if Fujiwara's unruffled expression was any gauge. His knowledge about the operation of a car was only from the viewpoint of a passenger--and from Shindou's overeager, garbled explanations--but he watched Fujiwara's motions, and recognized the competency in them.

Shindou, though, seemed to be bracing himself for something, judging by the way he held on tightly to the car door, as though he was about to jump out at any moment. He seemed to be watching the speedometer intently.

"Will you stop that?" Touya whispered to him, aware of Fujiwara's curious looks at them in the rearview mirror.

"But... but..."

"It's all right, see?" He tried, without being too obvious, to draw Shindou's attention to the way Fujiwara was calmly driving.

Shindou continued to look nervous.

"Calm _down_," Touya said, exasperated. Racking his brains, he finally ordered, "Think of the game you played yesterday with Niwayama-san."

"Huh?" Shindou said, still clinging on for dear life.

"That nobi you played at the bottom right," Touya said. "What if you had played it earlier?"

"Er... I would have lost territory to Niwayama-san... three moku... No, wait, if I had played it earlier, and extended on the next hand, I could have killed his group within five hands!"

"But what if he had captured your extension instead?"

"Hah, not likely!" Shindou crowed. "I'd have cut him off at the star-point, and attacked the territory there!" he sketched the play briefly on the seat between them, unaware that he had taken his hand away from the car door. The wild look about his eyes had disappeared.

Within minutes, they had moved out of the small town and Fujiwara was easing the car into the long stretch of highway that led to their destination. Traffic was sparse at this time of the afternoon, and the car rolled on the road, seemingly without a care.

Touya could feel himself relax, even as he bantered with Shindou about the Go game. It was not often that he found himself enjoying car rides, but the air of competency around their driver was reassuring. Well, if his occupation was making deliveries, it was no wonder that Fujiwara seemed to think nothing of driving them so far in one afternoon. Shindou, too, seemed to be fine with it by now. He had given the whizzing scenery outside a few nervous looks, but he had finally got used to Fujiwara's driving, and relaxed enough to stop holding the grocery bag with his death-grip.

A loud honking sound made them jump.

"What?" Shindou exclaimed, sitting up and looking around, clutching the grocery bag (and Touya's hand) with renewed urgency. "What was that?"

More honking, and Touya belatedly realized it came from the blue car pulling up beside them.

"Isn't there only one lane?" Shindou muttered nervously, squinting ahead as though he expected a vehicle to appear on the other lane by magic. "That's erm, dangerous, right?"

"I thought he was trying to overtake us, since we're on a straight stretch," Fujiwara said from the front. "I saw him come up from behind. But he isn't passing..."

"It's him," Touya recognized the hostile, jeering stranger from the gas station.

"Who?" Shindou looked. "The jerk?" he recognized, and glanced at their driver. "Why is he honking at you?" he asked.

Fujiwara frowned. "I think he wants to race me."

"Race!" Shindou's voice came up in a squeak.

"Please don't worry. I'm not going to do anything dangerous. I don't want to get a ticket, after all," Fujiwara said.

The earnestness in his voice made Touya feel better. Judging by Shindou's reaction, it had the same effect. "Uh... that's good," Shindou said.

"It's dangerous of him to do this," Fujiwara went on seriously. "There are a lot of curves coming up in front, and there are a lot of blind spots. If he wants to overtake..." his voice trailed when he glanced again at the blue car, and his eyes narrowed for a second.

"He just gave you the finger," Shindou said, frowning. "And he keeps honking..." he shook his head as the sound started up again. He opened his mouth to speak, when there was a sudden bump from _somewhere _and he fell heavily against the back of the front seat.

"Shindou!" Touya exclaimed, managing to grab hold of Shindou, even as the air suddenly seemed to spin, making him lose his balance. The screeching of something heavy on the roughened road was very loud. He watched in alarm as Fujiwara's eyes focused on a point in the air in front of him, even as his limbs seemed like a swirl of movement in front. The guardrail suddenly seemed to be too near.

Shindou leaned against him with a groan.

There was a crunch of something breaking into pieces.

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	4. Chapter 4

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They came to a stop.

"Ow..." Shindou muttered in his arms.

The pressure in Touya's chest relaxed a little at that. "What happened?" he demanded.

"Are you injured?" Fujiwara asked, turning around, his eyes anxious.

Touya shook his head. He looked down at Shindou. "Shindou," he said more loudly. "Are you all right?"

Finally Shindou shifted away from Touya, and one arm came up to grab Touya's arm for support. "I'm... all right... Ow!" he rubbed his head. "I bumped my head," he said. "Touya, are you all right?" he asked, tugging at Touya's arm, looking at him up and down as though checking for injuries.

"I'm fine," he said. Other than being scared out of his life.

"Good. Shit, that was..." Shindou rubbed his head again, and looked at their driver. "The jerk tried to bump us?"

Fujiwara nodded.

Shindou peered out of the window, as though to catch a glimpse of the other driver. "That's... insane," he declared.

Touya watched him for a second, before he met Fujiwara's eyes. "That was incredible driving, Fujiwara-san," he said. " I thought we were going to meet with a nasty accident, but you managed to prevent it." He might not know much about cars, but he had taken lifts from Ogata often enough to recognize defensive driving techniques.

"Yeah!" Shindou came back to the conversation. "I thought we were going to die," he said with exaggerated horror. "That crazy, idiotic... Son of a bitch!" he shouted at the top of his voice.

"What is it?" Touya asked, recovering from a near heart-attack.

"Look!"

After a second Touya recognized the object Shindou was holding up as a squashed plastic cup, from which bits of dried ramen and a strong smell of old socks were surfacing.

"My barbequed squid ramen! He's ruined it!" Shindou said, and put the cup back in his bag, before holding up another equally smashed-up object. "And my black sesame chicken!" he showed Touya and Fujiwara, before rummaging in his bag again. "My preserved oysters! Grilled crab! Wasabi roast chicken! And... the garlic beef! That's it!" His head emerged from the bag, his eyes meeting Touya's for a second before he stared evenly at Fujiwara.

Fujiwara was starting to look uncomfortable under Shindou's intent look.

Touya reached for Shindou's shoulder, and shook it gently. It was like shaking a boulder. "Shindou, stop staring like that," he hissed.

"Fujiwara," Shindou said. "You know how to drive fast, right?" he asked. The even tone of his voice made Touya blink--usually, Shindou only got that tone only in the most intense of games.

Fujiwara nodded, awkward.

"Good." An unholy smile was appearing on Shindou's lips. "If I pay you, will you catch up with that jerk, so I can kick his ass?"

"Shindou!" Touya exclaimed, but stopped when he saw the light of competition was in Fujiwara's eyes appearing suddenly. Touya blinked, his estimation of their driver undergoing a re-evaluation. This person knew all about races, too.

"Can you do it?" Shindou asked.

Fujiwara's lips curved up slightly. "He's gone ahead, but..." he turned back to the front. "If it gets too much for you, let me know," he said.

And they were off.

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	5. Chapter 5

----------(5)----------

When he was very young, Touya had once been taken to Tokyo Disneyland by his mother. He was too small for anything else other than the children's rides then, but the feeling of being held tightly against another warm body as they went on the carousel was a memory that he had never really forgotten. Especially not when he was reliving the experience in such a surreal way.

Shindou was clinging to him for dear life.

True to his word, Fujiwara drove _fast_. In fact, Touya was not precisely sure that Fujiwara was 'driving', because they seemed to be falling, rather than moving horizontally on the roads. The scenery outside gave Touya a sense of vertigo, being nothing more than a summer-themed tunnel of greenery and blue-and-white skies.

Shindou was still clinging to him.

It was nice to think that perhaps his experience with Ogata's driving allowed him to remain calm while the nice, ordinary-looking tofu delivery car they were in abruptly transformed into a missile. But that was not true. Perhaps he was simply frozen with fear. Perhaps it was his companion.

For all his clinging, Shindou was in fact shouting words of encouragement to Fujiwara.

"Banzai! _All_ right!" They shot down a sloping stretch, seemingly out of control and heading for onward collision with the guardrail. Touya held his breath. They cleared it.

"Fantastic!" Shindou went on. "Go! Go! Go!" They missed the guardrail by the skin of their teeth, or so it seemed like to Touya, half-deafened by his shouts.

Fujiwara's lips were compressed with concentration in the rearview mirror, but his gaze flickered back to them, just for a split second, and he smiled, saying, "There are five hairpin curves coming ahead, Shindou-san, Touya-san. Brace yourself."

Touya's breath froze in his throat, but Shindou only nodded vigorously, his chin colliding with Touya's shoulder as he did so. The grin on his face was almost blinding.

"Here we go."

Like a large-sized rollercoaster, the car swooped around so sharply that it seemed like it was reversing on itself. There was heavy pressure on Touya's chest, but it then eased so suddenly that he felt weightless.

"One!" Shindou yelled. He fell against Touya, and then clung on to him even more tightly as they reached the beginning of the second curve. Touya squeezed his eyes shut. Maybe if he didn't watch...

"Two!" Shindou sounded like five-year-old.

Touya opened his eyes. Somehow, it was worse if you couldn't see your doom coming. It was like that in Go, too. He swallowed as they slid around a curve that should have sent them off the road, at the very least.

"Three!"

Another one.

"Four!"

For a moment Touya could see, between the trees, the little town at the foot of the mountain. Then it disappeared.

"Five!"

Touya felt like his seat had been yanked away from under him as they took the next curve. He took in his first deep breath as Shindou finally released him, and sat there, trying to recover his voice. Shindou was bouncing on his seat as they seemed to settle into a straight stretch. "That was awesome!" he said, peering over at Fujiwara like a small child at Disneyland. "Can we do that again?"

"Are you crazy?" Touya burst out before he could stop himself.

Shindou glanced back at him, his eyes shining. "Didn't you like it, Touya? It was a bit scary, but... wow! Have we caught up with the jerk yet?" The second question was directed at Fujiwara.

"It's right in front," Fujiwara said.

For a moment Touya couldn't see it, but then they took another turn--a gentler one this time--and he spotted it. Before he had time to blink, Fujiwara had passed it, and slowed down, forcing the other car to slow, too.

Both cars came to a stop.

Shindou was the first out of the car, yelling, "Give me back my ramen!"

----------to be continued-------------


End file.
